Prosecutor: Victim in child rape case was too fragile to be forced to testify at trial

A Lower Nazareth Township man accused of repeatedly raping a young girl will serve just 11/2 to three years in state prison under a plea agreement that a prosecutor said will protect his victim from the trauma of a trial.

Michael G. Hall Jr. pleaded no contest Thursday to a felony charge of corrupting a minor, with Northampton County authorities withdrawing a slew of more serious sex offenses that could easily have sent the 39-year-old defendant away for decades, if he were convicted of them.

Hall was living in Schuylkill County last year when he was charged with sexually assaulting the girl from 2009 to October 2013, beginning when she was 10 years old and culminating in repeated rapes, according to court records.

Jury selection in Hall's trial was slated to begin Monday. But Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Broscius said that while the girl was willing to testify, she is psychologically vulnerable and could be harmed by having to do so.

The girl, now 16, has had several mental-health commitments, has been cutting herself, and also is struggling with substance-abuse problems, Broscius told President Judge Stephen Baratta.

From speaking with the girl, her mother, her caseworker and her therapist, Broscius said she believed the plea agreement shielded the girl from further heartache.

"In reviewing this, my fear is that the result of a trial may cause [the victim] to go into a downward spiral, no matter what the trial outcome was," Broscius said.

By pleading no contest, Hall admitted that prosecutors could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he "engaged in sexual contact" with the girl and smoked marijuana and synthetic marijuana with her. For the purposes of sentencing, it is considered the same as a guilty plea.

Baratta said he was uncomfortable with the agreement, given the larger allegations. But he accepted it nonetheless, saying that if he forced the case to go to trial, he could be doing the girl more harm than good.

"I'm not interested in victimizing this young lady any more, because it sounds like she is a tortured soul," Baratta said.

Defense attorney Philip Lauer said both sides faced difficulties if the case went before a jury. There were "many versions of what happened," and Hall had potential defenses to the allegations, Lauer said.

"There are significant issues on both sides of this case, and this is a fair and reasonable resolution for both sides," Lauer said.

Once Hall completes his prison time, he'll be on probation for four years.

He'll have to register as a sex offender for at least 15 years, and will be evaluated to determine whether he should be classified as a sexually violent predator — a designation that would require lifetime registration.